Improvement in spring-guns



WILLIAM w. HANNAH. Improvement in Spring-Guns. No. 127,873.

Patented June H, 1 872.

l ll l A n" llllll .3 llllllll 1 7 hi H renews PATENT OFFICE."

. WILLIAM W..HANNAH, or nunson, NEW YORK.

m noysmam m SPRING-GUNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 127,873, dated June 11, 1872.

To allwhom it may concern: v

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. HANNAH, of Hudson, in the county of Columbia and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Gun; and I do 'hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of an airpistol constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the application of the cartridge-carrier when the pistol is used as a fire-arm. Fig. 3 is a de tached sectional view of the piston and mainspring. Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the sliding cylinder, in which the piston 'op-. crates. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the pinion and lever by which the cylinder is-operated and locked in position when. the gun is charged.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the trigger. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the sliding cylinder, showing the cartridge-carrier, retractor, and firing-pin. Fig. 9 is a detached view of the rear sight. Fig. 10 is a side view of the instrument with a stock attached for firing from the shoulder.

. Similar letters of reference in the accompan yin g drawing denote the same parts.

My invention has for its object, first, to provide for public use a pistol or gun which is capable of being employed either as a fire-arm or as an air-gun5 secondly, to render the operation of the mainspring more uniform, reliable, and powerful, thirdly, to improve the construction of the lock so as to render the action of the trigger uniform whatever may be the compression and force of the mainspring;

chamber that contains the mainspring, and

which contains the principal mainspring. It

consists, fourthly, in encompassing the piston and a portion of the mainspring with a sliding cylinder, operated by a rack and pinion, and

so constructed that whenretracted it cooks the'gun and opens the breech-to receive the cartridge or dart, and when thrown forward again it closes the breechand ,leaves the gun ready to be discharged. It consists,'fifthly,;

in so adjusting the piston-rod above described with relation to the front of. the cylinder when I closed, to the rear wall of themain chamber, and to the head or other part which receives the force of the supplemental spring, that when the piston is thrown forward bythe force of the springs the head upon its rearend will arrest its movement at the. instant the piston reaches the end of the cylinder, andthereby prevent injury to the latter. It consists, siXth-. I y, in the improved construction and arrangement of the parts composing the lock. It consists, seventh] y, in an improved device for locking the cylinder in firm contact :with. the breech of the. gun when loadedand ready to be used as a fire-arm. It'consists, eighthly, in attaching a cradle or holder to-the endofthe cylinder, to be used fomgin'ding and carrying the dart or cartridge into. the breechof the barrel. It consists, ninthly, in constructing said cradle in 'such a manner that itwillnot only. operate to carry forward but to retract .the cartridge or its shell. It consists,.tenthly, .in the/combination of a spring fil'ingpin with the slidingcylinder. t 1

In the accom'panyin g drawing the breech of the pistol is shown, composed of two hollow, cases, A B, screwed together at 0, so as to holda guide-partition, D, between them.and form separate chambers. E is the barrel,

turned down at its rear endto form a sleeve,

F, which is let into the part G of the case A and formsa lining forthe same, the two being screwedtogether at the shoulder h. I is the handle, which maybe east orotherwise formed upon .the case B. J is a short cylinwith the exception of a circular opening, ,k

, line with the bore of the underside of the upon the pinion, guard when along-the under side of the two cha .ting over the trigger, and is lockedin place by a spring-catch, Q, pivoted withi dle of the pistol, as shown,

tending through the partition of which it is formed with a button or head, S.

, The frontend of the. stem with 1carri'es a piston composed of two the niainsprin'g of the ins plemental mairlsp'ring,

. the? spring II. The fro mental or re-enforcing stem; and-its mar-en U' is. also-held jury to the latter. The lock of the instrument chamber B, in rear'of the the trigger zIJjThe deteut is further formed with a beveled should i "side,-in rear of the pomts y,

latter within the ham forward, and the pinion an t "the cylinder and pistonwithin the cham compressing the head catches,

- spring, '0', the upper Fig. 2, which operation cocks or yfor firing..- A suitable dart is der,.,pl aced Withimthe chamberrterso as to slide ireelyJtherein in close contact with its sides. The front end of this. cylinder is closed near its upper sidefcorresponding manual barrel. L isa rack formed upon the head of the cylinder, and extending through the front of the chamber A, beneath the barrel, where-it-. engages witha; pinion, M,' p ivoted between-ears n upon the part G, .0 is a lever, formed and sawin t e trigger not in operation it"extends mbers, fit-- n the ham to hold 'tl 1 e*cylinder forward against the barrel. R is a rod or block placed within the cylinder J,-and ex- D, at the rear in thecyliuder I 'heads, -t, between which is clamped a suitable packing, to be 'hereinafterdescribed. U is. a volute or spiral spring, fitted around thestem, between the piston and partitions D, andconstitutes trument. V is a supplaced'within the chamform and construction to ntend of the supple. mainspi'ing fits over a shouldered projection --upen thehead S ofthe ber'B, and similar in c'ess, w, at the end of provisionit is held in displacement.

the chamber.- By this position against'lateral The rearend of the mainspring 'inplace within a recess of the partition D for the, same purpose. The piston and'head S are sodisposed upon the rodlthat when the piston is thrown forward by the force of the springs the head and partition D will arrest its movement at the instant it reaches the front end of the cylinder, and prevent in is composed of a detent, x, pivoted within the supplemental spring, beneath the same, so come incontact with and extending forward that its points 3 shall b, exten din within the barrel,being intro avge'za open side of the chamber.

an opening made inthe top of the chamber A for this purpose. The lever is now swung back to its place, carrying the cylinder again forward,.but leaving the piston androd set fo.

firing, as above described.

To discharge the pistol the trigger is drawn backward until the points 3 of the detent slip ofi' its upper end, when, the piston is thrown forward, bythe lmainspriugs, driving the air from the cylinder" through the small opening to project the dart from the barrel. Inasmuch as the shoulder of the detent is held in feontaet with the head S: solely by the trigger, it is evident that when the support of the lat- Q ter is withdrawn the piston will be thrown -for-.

ward, This, however,*would'not be the case if the shoulder a was not beveled, because the detent would then have to be moved down by a force other than that of the mainsprings. By beveli'ng the shoulders, however, the detent is easily thrown down to release the head bythe force of the mainsprin gs when the trigger support is removed. By this construction the action of the trigger is rendered uniform whatever may be the compression or force of the mainsprin gs.

To remove the supplemental mainspring the sides of the handle I are firsttaken ch in the manner common to ordinary pistols. The spring is then compressed by hand to clear it from the recess 10, and renioved through the l e .piston packing consists of two. flexible and the other, g,-of some membranous substance or skin impervious to air. Theyare clamped between the piston-heads and bent forward around the edge'of the front head, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the thin disk 9 shall bear against'the cylinder. When the piston is driven forward by the mainsprings the bent edges of the packing are expanded by the air .and thereby prevent the escape of the latter around the heads t. The. thin disk l '9 acts as a lubricant to reduce the friction due to the contact of the piston and cylinder; but if used without the rubber disk it would bees liable, on account of its thinness, to bend .inward against thelhead by the pressure of the air as to bend outward against the. cylinder. It is also liable-to warp and wrinkle, and therefore;beeonr gja inoperative. These .difliculties, however, areovememe Jay-the employment ofthe rubber disk, whose tendency is to spring outward'and hold the thin disk against the cylinder. at all times. The adhesion and expansive qualityof the rubber prevents the .thin disk from wrinkling or warping while thesame'qualities render the rubber d1sk unsuitable to' be employed alone.

h is a concave holder or cradle attached to the front-of the cylinder immediately beneath the openinglc, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, which cradle is employed to feed a dart or cartridge into the end of the barrel. I also form a-retractor to remove the shell of an exploded disks" orgreater diameter than thecylinder, the-one,f,' being composed of thin rubber,-

cartridge", by cutting-out a thin strip, a, from the cradle, whose free end shall bear against the flange of the cartridge-shell and withdraw it when the'cylinder is moved back. The retractor does not interfere with'the movements of the dart, nor is it affected by the explosion of the cartridge. V

To permit the cradle to feed the dart or cartridge into the barrel I form a recess in the the pinion-lever O, which,-when said lever is locked in place, passes through the bottom of the chamber A and bears against the rear edge of the cylinder, as shown in Fig. 1. The cartridge is introduced through the top opening in the chamber A the same as the dart, and is exploded by the piston striking the firin g-pin, as will be readily understood. A suitable s'ight is arranged at the breech of the pis to], and maybe either a plain open sight or a globe sight, as shown in Fig. 9.

To convert the instrument into a gun to be fired-from the shoulder, I screw a long tuhe, N, onto thepistol-barrel E, and attach a 'skele.

ton stock, 0', to the handleI by slipping the} lower arm 12 of such, stock into a beveled re cess, q, formed in the end of the pistol-handle, and securing it in place by a thumb-screw, It, inserted in the pistol-handle through the upper arm of the'stock, as shownin Fig. 10.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A breech-loading pistol or gun capable of being employed either as a fire-arm or, as an air-gun, substantially in the manner'herein shown and described.

2. The breech-loading airgun or firearm, constructed with the chambers'A Bcarrying,

guide-partition D between them, substantial- 1y as described, for the purpose specified.

3. Thesupplementalre-enforcingmainspring V arranged in a chamber, B, behind theprincipal mainspring, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

'4. In combination with the head S'of the- I guide-rod R and with the recess w inthe chamber B], Ijclaim the removable supplemental.

mainsp'ring V, substantiallyas described, for the purpose specified.

1 5. The sliding cylinder J, operatedywithin' the chamber A by a rack and pinion, so that when retracted it cocks the gun, sets the springs,

and opens the breech to receive a dart 'or'cartrid'ge, and when thrown forward again it closes the breech and leaves ,the gun ready to be discharged,substantially as described.

6. In combination with the chamber A and the piston, I claim the cylinder J, rack L, and, lever-pinion M O, substantially as described,

for the purpose specified.

7. In combination with the cylinder J and pinion-lever O, I claim the lockingtoe m, substantially as described,,for the purpose-specified. V 8. I claim the lockingmechanism, consisting of the trigger 2, spring 0, and thepivoted detent .70, constructed with the beveled shoulder 1, the points 3 and the arm b, substantially as described, for the v purpose specified. 9. In combination with the triggenand the head Sof the piston-rod, I claim the detent at a b, substantially as described, for; the purpose specified. a f e z 10. In combination with the sliding cylinder J, I claim the cradle 71. and the spring firingpin j, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

11. Theretractor 1, formed by a spring upon the cradle, substantially as described, for the purpose specified. 1

12. The firing-pin, operated to explode a cartridge bythe same piston used to project the dart when the instrument is employed as an air-gun, as herein shown and described.

, WM. W. HANNAH. Witnesses: I

' E. A. ELLSWORTH,

' NATHAN K. ELLSWORTH. 

